Saturday, February 15, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Mary Stokes Croad

Mary Stokes was born on 16 April, 1867 in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales. Her parents, George Stokes and Charlottle Shepstone were natives of Somerset, England. They had relocated to Wales a few years before Mary's birth so that George could work in the coal mines. Mary was the youngest of George and Charlotte's nine children.

Mary married Frederick Rendle Croad in 1885. He was a native of Dorset, England who had come to Wales to also work in the mines. The following year they had their first child, Frank and not long after left Wales to go to Canada. Their second child, John, was born in 1888 in Bruce, Ontario. Not long after that, the family moved again, this time southward. By 1890 the family was in Lilly, Cambria, Pennsylvania, not far from Johnstown which had flooded in 1889. Whether the family was in the area at the time of flood or not, I do not know. Regardless, the Croads left very soon after their daughter, Florence, had been born in Lilly in April of 1890.

The Croads were living with Mary's parents back in Pontypridd at the time of the 1891 Wales Census. Their fourth child, Anna, was born there in May of 1892. A month later, they arrived at the Port of Philadelphia. Their destination was Michigan.

The family settled in the Millbrook, Mecosta, Michigan area from then on. They farmed and Fred also did some work for the railroad. Mary and Fred were also actively involved with the Salvation Army. Mary had been raised in the Primitive Methodist Church before joining the Church of God in 1914.

Mary had seven more children in Michigan. All but one of her eleven children reached adulthood. Mary died on 28 June 1923 in Millbrook, possibly due to epilepsy. Fred died in 1932. Their daughter, Daisy, was my great-grandmother.

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I'm a 20-something, long-time genealogy enthusiast from Northern California. My paternal ancestry is mostly concentrated in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada. On my mother's side, I am a 6th generation Californian, with ties further back to many of the lower 48 states.